Science Autobiography

In elementary school the experiences that I can remember include many small

experiments like turning on a lightbulb with a battery and a paperclip. These experiments were

very much just about the wow factor of being able to make “magic” by myself. In the case of

the lightbulb, flipping a switch and a light turning on was interesting because I have no idea

how the two are really connected and I assumed that it was too complicated for me to figure

out. When we were able to replicate a much simpler version of this phenomena, I was amazed

because I was able to recreate that reaction. Another example of science I can recall from those

earlier years was my fifth-grade class because my teacher loved all things space and planets. I

enjoyed her explaining the solar system because she was excited about it, so it made me feel

excited about it. The last major part of science from elementary was learning about the parts of

a plant because I was able to make a connection to the physical world that I experienced by

going outside and seeing some of the plats that we discussed. As for my middle school years,

the biggest part that I remember was building terrariums because we got to build whole

ecosystems and then observe how they changed and developed over a long period of time.

Another piece that I remember from middle school was the genealogy discoveries. During this

time, we talked about why some of us have different physical qualities than others such as me

having freckles everywhere and my best friend not having freckles. During my high school

years, I saw a shift in the types of things that have stuck with me. A lot of the things I can recall

all happened while I was sitting at a table. This was not very interactive, and I feel like I

remember a lot fewer exciting situations, despite it being a much sooner time than elementary

school was. I remember a lot of math in chemistry that I know I have forgotten by now. On the
contrary to these fewer exciting memories, I did have a lot of fun in my environmental sciences

class that was offered during my junior year. I loved this class because we spent more time out

of our seats than in them. We took many trips down the road from our high school to go to a

creek and do different experiments such as testing the pH levels of the water or observing

plants. We also did a few different trips just out to the parking lot to discuss population and

sometimes if the weather was nice, we would just simply take the lesson outside to talk about

the topics we discussed over the week. Or even getting to go to the auditorium to showcase

projects or do presentations. I remember a lot from this class because the teacher always

wanted to keep the lessons interactive and change up the environment of class as much as

possible. When I got into community college out of high school, I took an anatomy class that

was done online and I only really used my memorization skills to get through that class, I do not

remember a lot of specific things and I doubt that I can really recall specific information. At my

community college I also took a botany class though and really enjoyed it. We were required to

go to different places and observe and write down our findings. I went to the pacific science

center and went in the butterfly exhibit to look at the different plants they chose to go in the

exhibit. When I got to WWU, the science classes I have taken have all been science education

classes and I very much enjoyed them. As for outside of school I remember as a child always

reading bird anatomy books or different scientific books on animals. I read these because my

mom had a library full of her old field journals and books she used for her work as a wildlife

biologist. I don’t think I really understood any of it at the time, but I loved to pretend that I was

a wildlife biologist just like my mom.

 When I think back on my experiences in science, my initial reaction is quite negative. In

school I have always felt like every subject came easy to me and never really gained any skills in

studying. When it came to science I began to fall behind because growing up I never really felt

like I was very good at science, so I generally didn’t have a very good relationship. This

especially showed when new concepts were introduced because I hadn’t yet understood the

concepts we had previously covered. This all came from not being able to understand concepts

I could not see. When I was in elementary school there were very little experiments and I felt

like we spent a lot of time just in the classroom at our desks. Science that I can remember was

all very hands on and I generally remember enjoying those experiences. This is very relevant to

the moments I was able to recall because as I reread what I have wrote about so far, they are all

times that I got to build something or that I could get out of the classroom to see. The

environmental sciences class that I took in high school was based on being an interactive class

and I felt like I could take my learning into my own hands. Another common thing that I have

realized is that the classes that I really enjoyed and felt a connection to were ones where the

teacher had a strong love for the subject. I loved to participate and listen in class when the

teacher seemed to not only be having fun but also be passionate. In the experiences that were

negative, I noticed that I spent that time being “fed” the information in a way. The experience

that I counted as an exception was chemistry. I struggled in this class because there seemed to

be a lot of math that was using very precise numbers, so it was difficult to get the correct

answer down to the decimal. I loved math but this seemed to frustrate me because I watched

my grade in this class fall rapidly due to being wrong from not being precise.
 As a student who was very good at school it frustrated me to be bad at a certain subject,

so it caused my relationship with science to struggle. Growing up, science to me has meant

classroom settings where I am not in control of the learning. I also think that I have always

found science to be a collection of knowledge that I memorize for a test or a homework

assignment and soon forget it after I no longer need to know it for a grade. In the SCED classes

that I have taken at WWU my opinions on science have thoroughly shifted to a different point

of view. I have tried to reflect on my science experience so that I can be the best teacher of

science I possibly can. In this time, I have decided that as a teacher I want to be as excited

about science as my teachers in the past were so that I can make my students experiences

better than mine was. Now I define science as a study of the world around us through

experiences and connection. That is how I want science to be different for my students.

Personally, I do value science because it is something in our world that is reliable. In these

terms I believe in and will always advocate for science because it is fact and I think it is

important to immerse yourself in science because you do not need to be a face of science

(Newton, Curie, etc.) to be a scientist. I think that many people and even myself sometimes

doubt science, and don’t get me wrong it is always good to challenge and ask questions about

something that you don’t understand, but it is important to realize that science is based on fact

and is important in our everyday life not just in a school classroom for a grade.